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View Full Version : Do all newly built properties have to have a 10 year builders Guarantee?



Graham
01-20-2010, 10:33 PM
Hi wonder if you can help me. Do all newly built properties have to have a 10 year builders Guarantee?

Lawbird Lawyer
01-21-2010, 10:30 AM
Dear Sir,

Yes, all.

Having written that, there is however a special case when it comes to self-developers (i.e. building your own rural villa) in which it is not necessary following a change in the law.

The Building Act, Law 38/99 forced self-developers to attain the compulsory ten year building guarantee themselves. This had a cost of approx 6,000€ for a 90m2 dwelling. Failure to comply resulted in the self-developer being forbidden to sell on the property whilst alive to another party unless the latter expressly waived this requirement on signing the Title deed before teh Notary public. After the 10 years had elapsed you were free to sell on the property to anyone you wished without any legal constraints.

Due to all the practical problems this caused, an amendment was brought about on by Law 52/2002 of 30th December 2002, additional disposition number two, which would be enforceable as from the 1st January 2003. This resulted in the exemption of self-developers that built just one dwelling for their own use to apply for the 10 year building guarantee. They effectively waived this requirement now.

Having said this, only some people may qualify for this. As it would be a legal loophole that many unscrupulous developers could follow to build and sell X properties waiving the compulsory guarantees devised for the protection of purchasers (consumers) at large.

This 10 year guarantee is only available to apply on the building stages of the dwelling, not once it's finished for technical reasons I will not get into.

Yours faithfully,
Raymundo LarraÃ*n Nesbitt